It was the 11th of November 2013.
The Shield had the advantage, facing off against Daniel Bryan and CM Punk in a 2-on-3 handicap match on Monday Night Raw. As the tables started to turn, and CM Punk cinched in the Anaconda Vice on Dean Ambrose, a familiar sound rung through the arena and in a matter of seconds, the Wyatt Family was in the building.
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan appeared in the ring, as Bray Wyatt spectated while his “brothers” towered over Bryan, Punk, Rollins and Ambrose. But as the ‘Best in the World’ and everyone’s favourite beard enthusiast rolled out of harm’s way, the real fun began. Seth and Dean, irate over the Wyatts’ interference in their match, decided to vent their frustrations by engaging Harper and Rowan in a good, old-fashioned brawl.
On the outside, as Wyatt shouted words of encouragement to his pals, he found himself being handled by Roman Reigns and didn’t take too kindly to it. They entered the fray, but before long, these two larger-than-life factions decided to let bygones be bygones for the time being, turning their attention to common enemies in Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.
Now, obviously this recap doesn’t do justice to the actual moment, but if you haven’t seen it, go and look it up on YouTube because it was awesome. That short segment was more exciting than anything we’d seen on WWE TV for weeks. We witnessed The Shield and the Wyatt Family toss it on the stones for the very first time, and the people wanted more. But did we get it? As Dean Ambrose would say…Nope.
Not until now, at least. A couple of weeks ago on Raw, the Wyatt Family interfered in yet another of The Shield’s matches to attack John Cena, inadvertently costing each Shield member a spot in the Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship next Sunday night.
Naturally, Dean, Seth and Roman were pissed off, and now after weeks of back-and-forth vignettes, promos, matches and one insanely intense stare down last week, these two teams will be facing off at the Elimination Chamber event in Minneapolis. And quite frankly, I can’t wait.
Ever since the Wyatt Family’s promo vignettes started airing last summer, we’ve been contemplating the possibility of this epic bout actually taking place, and at the start of the year, it looked like that was never going to happen. I honestly thought The Shield would have broken up by now. I think I actually said that in the article I wrote last December about 15 stars who would have an impact in 2014.
There is a very distinct void within The Shield, more specifically between Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, and I believe that void will ultimately lead to the demise of this amazing trio. And it could happen sooner than you’d think. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say that the WWE creative team have only kept The Shield together for this long for two reasons:
- How could they break up the faction without capitalising on this modern-day dream match? That would be the definition of a wasted opportunity, so I’m happy they realised that before it was too late. It’s not every day that an upcoming match at a gimmick PPV gets people this excited, so it’s clear that they made the right choice in booking this rivalry.
- It’s all about timing. The Shield are one of the most captivating forces in the company today and while disbanding may benefit the three men (some more than others in the immediate future), it’s a story that you’d want to save for a big stage…like WrestleMania.
Not only will the majority of fans be invested in this match, but a high stakes bout at the biggest show on the wrestling calendar will be huge for Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns, regardless of the winner. ‘Mania draws the biggest audience of the year, and this kind of match will show people where the future of the company lies.
And if you’re going to start building towards this match at the Showcase of the Immortals, then there really is only one place to start. If The Shield implodes in this match at the Chamber, it’ll get things started for their rivalry leading up to WrestleMania, possibly with the United States Championship on the line.
Then of course it would benefit the Wyatts if they’re the ones who finally rid the WWE of the Hounds of Justice once and for all. It’s likely that Wyatt will be squaring off against John Cena at WrestleMania, what with their unfinished business from the Royal Rumble and all, and the Wyatts’ momentum would be at an all-time high if they went into ‘Mania after winning this match.
It’s not just bragging rights for the winners at stake here, it’s bragging rights about forcing The Shield down the path of no return. You can imagine the genius that Bray Wyatt would come out with on the mic to describe how he was right all along, and how the “bickering little children” of The Shield were too egotistical to work as a unit.
If I was booking it, I’d have the two teams go at it for a good 15-20 minutes, before all-out chaos ensued in the ring, with Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt as the legal men.
Dean Ambrose drops Erick Rowan with his signature headlock driver, and then starts exchanging punches with Bray Wyatt. Roman Reigns goes for a spear on Wyatt, but he steps out of the way and Ambrose gets nailed instead. Reigns gets taken out briefly by a vicious clothesline from Luke Harper, who in turn is nailed with a huge springboard knee to the head from Seth Rollins. He turns around only to suffer the effect of Sister Abigail in the middle of the ring, but in a matter of seconds, Reigns spears the life out of Wyatt and goes for the pin.
But before the ref gets to the count of three, Ambrose pulls Reigns off of their opponent and nails him with his finisher, fuming over the spear he just took from his so-called partner. He grabs Wyatt and puts his arm over Reigns’ chest for the three count, and the victory. Roman Reigns lays helpless in the ring as Ambrose slowly struts to the back, with a dazed and confused look on the face of Seth Rollins at ringside.
Not bad, huh? Dean Ambrose has been the butt of Reigns’ and Rollins’ jokes for a while now. Take what happened last week as an example. Reigns and Rollins couldn’t contain their laughter during Dean’s match with Mark Henry. So it makes sense for Dean to be the first to turn on his partners, and in a high stakes bout like this, it’ll be even more effective.
I trust that Seth and Roman will part ways too, as the weeks go by and the match becomes even more likely to occur in Nawlins less than two months from now. It really is a match I’d love to see, so hopefully the WWE creative team share that opinion.
This six-man tag-team match at Elimination Chamber will be a pivotal moment in the build-up to WrestleMania XXX, but before we get to Wyatt/Cena and the triple threat match, we get to see what will undoubtedly be an extraordinary match. The way they’ve handled this build-up has been pure genius.
We have been on the edge of our seats, longing to see these teams square off. But no matter how close we came, especially with their epic stare down last week on Raw, November 11th is the closest we’ve come to seeing these guys trade blows. And those weeks of suspense will make next Sunday’s match even more physical and insane. I really am looking forward to seeing these guys go at it, in the almost guaranteed match of the night.
I guess that’ll have to do for today, folks. If all goes to plan, I’ll be back this coming Friday with my Elimination Chamber predictions, and again on Sunday for another edition of your favourite weekly article. After that, I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from the SLTD homepage, but there’ll be more on that next Sunday.
If you enjoyed this preview for next week’s big match, please like this on Facebook, tweet or retweet the links and leave your comments down below. Your feedback is always read and appreciated!
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Thanks for reading, boys and girls!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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